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Comment: Alan Ruddock: Aquatic centre shows why we must sink this government

Who will pay the price for the unfolding disaster at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC)? Will politicians be forced to resign, will public servants be sacked, will former consultants and directors be sued? Will there be a criminal investigation or a tribunal of inquiry? Or will the Dail’s summer recess provide the government with enough breathing space for the NAC’s difficulties to recede gently into history?

In case you’ve missed the drama, the aquatic centre cost twice the original budget to build; the roof blew off in January; it leaks “like a sieve”; experts now worry that those leaks could cause the building to subside; the management company is in court fighting with the state agency that owns the centre amid allegations of unpaid Vat and rent arrears; and a report prepared in 2002 by Michael McDowell, then the attorney-general and now minister for justice, highlighted a series of failures